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2014 SEC Discussion and Division Races

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BigWoof31 said:
The Buckeyes have their share of down opponents too (or opponents in transition -lets say). Speaking about down Washington, down Wazzu, down Miami, down NC State, down Cal.
But Ohio State trumps Bammer in two regards:

1). Despite Alabama's dominance, they haven't played anyone OOC of the caliber of 2008-2009 USC and 2006-2007 Texas.
2). Bammer (and to a small degree Saban) prefer the route of the most fanfare. It's used as an exceptional recruiting tool. The neutral site games are always preferable since it gives the program a primo recruiting draw. With the SEC and other conferences going to a nine game schedule, me thinks the majority of home and home series are going the way of the dodo.
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Down Wazzu? They were a top-10 team that year. Bama hired their coach (that motorboatin' son-of-a-bitch.)
Down NC State? They had Philip Rivers when they came to Columbus.

Also, these Ohio State examples that you cite home-and-home series that are agreed to up to a decade in advance. Meanwhile Alabama is scheduling neutral site games 18 months out. It's one thing to make that argument when you can't be sure if a certain program is still going to be good when their number comes up. There's something to be said for the drawbacks of scheduling games that far in advance. On the other hand, there's little uncertainty around what Bama is doing. USC isn't going to be good at that time and Bama knows it. They scheduled an empty brand name knowing exactly what they are getting.
 
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jlb1705 said:
Down Wazzu? They were a top-10 team that year. Bama hired their coach (that motorboatin' son-of-bitch.)
Down NC State? They had Philip Rivers when they came to Columbus.

Also, these Ohio State examples that you cite home-and-home series that are agreed to up to a decade in advance. Meanwhile Alabama is scheduling neutral site games 18 months out. It's one thing to make that argument when you can't be sure if a certain program is still going to be good when their number comes up. There's something to be said for the drawbacks of scheduling games that far in advance. On the other hand, there's little uncertainty around what Bama is doing. USC isn't going to be good at that time and Bama knows it. They scheduled an empty brand name knowing exactly what they are getting.
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It's called schedule the most marquee opponent you know you will beat.
 
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jlb1705 said:
On the other hand, there's little uncertainty around what Bama is doing. USC isn't going to be good at that time and Bama knows it. They scheduled an empty brand name knowing exactly what they are getting.
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You bring up an interesting point JL - I'd be interested to see the breakdown of money/tickets for this game.
Southern Cal needs this big game ALOT more that the Tide. I wonder if they took less of a pay day simply to schedule a more marque opponent.
 
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Sometimes ESPN is useful, like this article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blackhistory2008/columns/story?id=3254974

“The SEC, with its deep Southern roots, perhaps not surprisingly was the last major conference in America to be integrated. Some member schools not only fought to keep African-Americans off their own teams but refused to compete against other teams that included them on their rosters. In 1956, the state of Louisiana passed a law banning interracial sports competition, which was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959. In Mississippi, legislators threatened to stop funding schools that competed against integrated teams. For that reason, Mississippi State skipped the NCAA tournament in 1959, 1961 and 1962.”
(ESPN)
(but they did play in the 1963 tourney with future Celtics' star, Bailey Howell, defeating Bowling Green with future Warriors star, Nate Thurmond.)

I remember a joke often heard around campus in those days, "Did you hear that Alabama finally recruited a black athlete?"
This was always followed by, "No way."
"Yeah he's going to be on their track team as a javelin catcher."

A friend of mine who attended UK told me about the pre-season pep rally in the old field house when The Baron, Adolph Rupp, stood on the K in the middle of the darkened court with a spotlight on him and told the crowd they didn't have to worry about having black players on the Kentucky team, "...as long as I'm the coach."

Then came the 1965 NCAA finals...

“The big breakthrough was the now widely discussed football game in 1970 between the University of Southern California, coached by John McKay, and Alabama and its legendary coach, Bear Byrant. USC not only featured superstar fullback Sam "Bam" Cunningham, but had an all-African-American backfield, the first in Division I football. Cunningham was joined by quarterback Jimmy Jones and running back Clarence Davis. After USC whipped the Crimson Tide 42-21, full integration was only a matter of time.”(ESPN)

It was probably the first time a black player set foot on the field at Tuscaloosa, certainly the first time a team with more than one or two blacks played there. In retrospect, I wonder if Bear Bryant didn't use the game as a way to allow him to go after all the 5 star talent going to schools such as Grambling, Florida A&M and Southern.

Now I wonder if this game isn't a way into the Texas - California recruiting fields, rich territory to mine.
 
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